Helene Alving is about to dedicate an orphanage she has built in the memory of her late husband, Captain Alving. She reveals to Pastor Manders that her marriage was secretly a miserable one, primarily because of her husband’s immoral and unfaithful behavior. She has built the orphanage to deplete her husband’s wealth so that their son, Oswald, might not inherit anything from him. Pastor Manders had previously advised her to return to her husband despite his philandering, and she followed his advice in the belief that her love for her husband would eventually reform him. But her husband continued his affairs until his death, and Mrs. Alving stayed with him to protect her son from the taint of scandal, and for fear of being shunned by the community.

During the action of the play, she discovers that her son Oswald (whom she had sent away to avoid his being corrupted by his father) is suffering from syphilis that he inherited from his father.She also discovers that Oswald has fallen in love with Regina Engstrand, Mrs. Alving’s maid, which is a serious problem because Regina is revealed to be an illegitimate daughter of Captain Alving, and therefore Oswald is falling in love with his half-sister…